9 Apr 2013

Healthy Chocolate Banana Pops (Dairy-Free)

A healthy chocolate recipe? Yes you did read that correctly. Although, whilst it is a healthy recipe, it does encourage my unhealthy relationship with chocolate. I love chocolate!

This recipe uses cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate and is mixed with water and agave syrup which means that is has no refined sugar, is low GI and dairy-free. I'm no nutritionist, but you can read about the health benefits of cocoa powder here.

What you will need:

3 tbsp cocoa powder (or raw cacao powder if you want to make it even healthier)

4 tbsp water

1-3 tsp agave syrup

Vanilla extract (optional)

2-3 bananas

Toasted coconut

Crushed pecans

Frozen raspberry pieces

Dark chocolate chunks (not as healthy, whoops!)

Firstly you need to peel and cut the bananas in half. Insert lolly sticks or cocktail sticks into the banana halves, then pop into the freezer until they are slightly frozen, which should take about half an hour to 45 minutes. Mix the cocoa powder, agave and water in a bowl until it forms a thick sauce consistency. Remove the bananas from the freezer and cover almost all of them in the chocolate mixture then sprinkle with one of the toppings. Repeat until all of the banana pops are coated. Ideally you should eat them straight away.

These pops will be perfect as an alternative to ice lollies in the summer, but really I don't think the excuse of hot weather is completely necessary! You can also change the toppings if you'd like, different nuts, other frozen or dried fruit. I do love food with lots of options!